Emjay Anthony

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Bad Moms is an American comedy film that stars Mila Kunis as the main protagonist Amy Mitchell who appears to lead the perfect life, she has a good career, over - achieving kids and a lovely home. However all is not as it seems and Amy is at the point of breaking. She is over-worked and finds herself running late to all her appointments. In her quest to free herself from this rut, she joins forces with two other overworked mums to liberate themselves from their daily responsibilities and start living again.

Based on ancient mythology, this Christmas horror movie has a gleefully nasty attitude that makes it entertaining even if it isn't properly frightening. This is mainly because the marauding monsters remain sketchy at best, never developing anything more than a superficial sense of dread. But the ace cast is terrific at engaging the audience,and the filmmakers keep viewers gripped as they play merrily with cliches from both horror and holiday movies.

It opens on a recognisably stressed-out Christmas season, as Tom and Sarah (Adam Scott and Toni Collette) feel their relationship straining under the pressure of work and holiday plans. They and their teen kids Beth and Max (Stefania LaVie Owen and Emjay Anthony) are dreading the arrival of their Aunt Linda and Uncle Howard (Allison Tolman and David Koechner) and their boorish kids. Then the drunken Aunt Dorothy (Conchata Ferrell) turns up unannounced. Tom's German mother (Krista Stadler) watches all of this with a silent, knowing dread. But the real threat is outside the house, as a vicious ice storm settles in, knocking out the power and unleashing a ferocious Anti-Santa and his evil gang of elves and killer toys.

The film is strikingly well shot and edited, as director Michael Dougherty orchestrates the comedy, drama and action to focus on the gifted actors. While the design and in-camera effects are clever, much of the digital effects work is ropey, giving the movie a cartoonish sheen. And the monsters themselves are eerily expressionless: ghoulish puppets with immobile faces. So they're extremely creepy, but not particularly menacing, because they have no personalities at all. Thankfully, Scott, Collette, Koechner and Tolman are experts at sliding effortlessly between comedy, drama and terror. And young Anthony gives the film a blast of resonance as Max, a boy still young enough to believe in Santa who thinks he has brought all of this violence down on his family.

Mowgli is a human boy known as a man-cub to his peers, among which are an array of jungle beasts. Left in the jungle as a baby, he was taken in by a family of wolves who raised him as their own. However, the older he grows, the more of a threat he becomes to a formidable villain named Shere Khan; a Bengal tiger with a deep fear of fire and loathing of man. Led by an impatient black panther named Bagheera, he is sent away from his jungle home to the safety of a nearby man village, though the journey becomes less straight-forward the further they stray. Mowgli befriends a fun-loving bear named Baloo, but finds Khan is not the only jungle menace as he is set upon by a gang of monkeys led by the orangutan King Louie, and hypnotised by a vicious snake named Kaa.

For a lot of kids, the Christmas holidays is their favourite time of year, all the family is together, Christmas day usually brings gifts from Santa and the thought of time off school all amount to smiles in most homes. Max's family is one of those who've got together for the holidays and you'd think that he'd be a happy boy, but when he has a change of heart about the Christmas period, he accidentally evokes the wrath of an ancient force who punishes ungrateful people over the Christmas period - the complete opposite to that of the children loving, gift giving, Saint Nicholas.

Max and his family must team together to find a way to survive the Christmas period without Krampus and his little helpers destroying their entire family.

You better watch out, You better not cry, You better not pout, I'm telling you why: Krampus is coming to town.

Following on from the events of 'Divergent', the mysterious government has discovered a magical maguffin which had the power to create the idyllic future they have always hoped to fulfil. The only catch, is that it requires a Divergent in order to activate it. As the government begins testing any and all Divergents they can find, Tris (Shailene Woodley) is already on the run, and meets up with an army of secret, hidden Divergents. When it is revealed that she may be the only one to truly activate the maguffin, the Divergents rise up as an Insurgency, and take the fight to the government that has oppressed them for too long.

Following the revelation that she is Divergent and not specialised for any of the dystopian Chicago factions, Tris (Shailene Woodley) uncovered a series of intrigue and dishonesty amongst factions. Now, Tris is on the run with her leader Four (Theo James); being chased by the Erudite - a faction based on intelligence - as they plot to become the dominant faction. With Tris' family having sacrificed themselves some great secret, Tris and Four must find out what that is before the Erudite can catch them and win.

Like comfort food, this movie has very little nutritional value, but it sure goes down smoothly. This is one of those shamelessly delicious-looking films that makes our mouths water at the tasty dishes that are lovingly created on-camera. And it also has an array of deeply likeable characters, witty cameos and sparkling dialogue to keep us smiling. So who cares that nothing unexpected happens from start to finish? This is a movie we sit back and enjoy without worrying about the appearance of a plot twist.

The title character is Carl (played by writer-director Jon Favreau), the chef at a top Los Angeles restaurant that is stuck in a rut because the owner (Dustin Hoffman) refuses to change anything on the menu. When a snooty food critic (Oliver Platt) criticises Carl for his tired and predictable cuisine, Carl's reaction sparks an angry Twitter war. In a fit of anger, Carl quits his job then hatches a plan to get back to his roots while bonding with Percy (Emjay Anthony), his pre-teen son with spicy ex-wife Inez (Sofia Vergara). So Carl and his sidekick Martin (John Leguizamo) take Percy to Miami to refurbish food truck and drive back to California, along the way building a reputation and perfecting their Latin-infused menu.

Since a complex plot would just be distracting, this film coasts on the charisma of its likeable cast, throwing in lively side roles for the likes of Scarlett Johansson as a restaurant colleague, Bobby Cannavale as a fellow chef and most memorably Robert Downey Jr. as Inez's hilariously nutty ex. Everyone is relaxed and effortlessly funny, which makes the interaction feel amusing and never remotely forced. While this is easily Favreau's most assured work as a director (that's including the first two Iron Man movies), this is also his most generous performance too. He infuses the whole film with easy-going charm.

Carl Casper is a chef working at one of the top restaurants of Miami. Food is his ultimate passion in life and so he is utterly heartbroken when his boss forces him to cook a 'safer' menu, bypassing his usually ambitious creations. The change came about when it was found that a formidable food critic would be visiting the establishment, but, as it turns out, the menu switch was a bad idea and Carl doesn't take his subsequent criticism very well at all. After reading his bad review and going viral, he sends out a badly judged post over Twitter and is thus forced to leave his post at the eatery. Instead, he sets up his own food truck, delivering his food on wheels to anyone willing to try a new culinary experience, and along the way uses it to reconnect with his young son and ex-wife.

'Chef' is brilliant comedy about self-discovery, passion and drive. The movie's main star, Primetime Emmy nominated Jon Favreau ('Cowboys & Aliens', 'Iron Man', 'Elf', 'Zathura: A Space Adventure'), was also responsible for the direction, production and screenplay and it made its premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in March. It is due for UK release on June 18th 2014.

Carl Casper is a well-known chef from Miami who works in a trendy LA restaurant much lauded by critics. However, when one particularly formidable critic shows up to taste Casper's food, his culinary creativity is thrown into question when his boss requests he make something a little more 'safe' than his usual creations. Unfortunately for Casper, he doesn't take criticism too well and loses his cool in a tirade which is captured on film and subsequently goes viral across all social mediums. Now jobless and unsure of his own passions, he returns to Miami to set up a food truck by the name of El Jefe Cubanos in a bid to regain some of his ingenuity and, of course, respect. The journey also sees him reconnect with his wealthy ex-wife and young son as the family attempt to rebuild the bonds between them.